# The time has come for elected moderators **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 22, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415 "2008-07-22T21:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![shamrock227](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@shamrock227](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shamrock227)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/101 "2008-07-23T02:47:23Z")
Can I be the GQ [Mod](http://www.flickr.com/photos/24229435@N06/2296516063/) ? Sammi is so cute I think I should be elected Admin, actually šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/102 "2008-07-23T02:59:49Z")
[Buffy](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/buffychair.jpg) says that I should have the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/103 "2008-07-23T03:06:43Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] ā€œVIVA LA REVOLUCION!ā€ Oh, sorry, wrong button. Here: ā€œBAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!ā€ [/QUOTE] What they said ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/104 "2008-07-23T03:09:25Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Iā€™d like to propose a white ballot of the following nominees: \*\*bibliophage Cajun Man C K Dexter Haven Colibri Czarcasm fluiddruid Frank Gaudere Gfactor Giraffe InvisibleWombat Marley23 MEBuckner Rico samclem SkipMagic tomndebb TubaDiva Ukulele Ike \*\* [/QUOTE] Can we add **Melin**? ::: Ducks and runs::: ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/105 "2008-07-23T03:18:21Z")
[Ahem.](http://flickr.com/photos/tazandschatzi/2497708644/) Schatzi thinks I should have ATMBā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/106 "2008-07-23T03:18:27Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] At present, the system is one that would make Robert Mugabe proud. Iā€™m tired of seeing Mods speak to members with contempt, and otherwise treating people poorly. It will only be redressed if we rise up and demand change. Who is with me? [/QUOTE] Iā€™m in! I agree 110%. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/107 "2008-07-23T03:28:05Z")
Robert Mugabe says that MPSIMS should be dedicated solely to cat photos. Robert Mugabe offers his assurances that MPSIMS will be moderated fairly and with respect to all; but only those posts which include cat photos can be permitted to remain. Posts which do not include cat photos are not indigenous to MPSIMS. There are many other forums which can accomodate these postersā€™ needs, and to which they are more naturally suited. Yes, if you post in MPSIMS without a cat photo, you will be thoroughly beaten. Do not invite the moderators to punish your noncompliance. MPSIMS will not negotiate or tolerate any challenges to its sovereignty in this matter. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/108 "2008-07-23T03:32:32Z")
**danceswithcats** , is suspending a silly dopey troll really this important to you? What the hell, Eggs was at best a moron on par with Andrewt85 and at worst a complete jerk and troll. Why did this get you so pissed off. _I Consolidated the list to avoid wasting screen spaceā€¦_ [QUOTE=Frank] [QUOTE=silenus] Iā€™d like to propose a white ballot of the following nominees: bibliophage, Cajun Man, C K Dexter Haven, Colibri, Czarcasm, fluiddruid, Frank, Gaudere, Gfactor, Giraffe, InvisibleWombat, Marley23, MEBuckner, Rico, samclem, SkipMagic, tomndebb, TubaDiva, Ukulele Ike [/QUOTE] You missed **Lynn Bodoni** , who, while not assigned to a forum, is still a utility admin and middle reliever. [/QUOTE] I vote for everyone but **Frank** , I never did like **Frank**. šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/109 "2008-07-23T03:33:57Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Neither. We should add a Moderator Forum where people can make their displeasure with certain moderators known; the Pit will then be closed to Moderator bashing threads. AND, along with Moderator bashing, the new forum will allow Moderators to bash members at will, venting their displeasure with members who particularly raise their ire. I think this idea has some promise. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/110 "2008-07-23T03:35:56Z")
Well, looks as though even if we canā€™t swing elections, the OP has gained a whole bunch of dancing partners. Good work has been done here tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/111 "2008-07-23T03:51:26Z")
[Cuervo](http://picasaweb.google.com/lrm229/CatPictures/photo#4978492385904951314) hands down is the baddest cat in town and will Mod the Pit, or you will all suffer the Neck Bite and be cursed for eternity. PS: If heā€™s hungry in the morning, he will drool and lick your chin. Do not confuse this with weakness, it is only him coating you in cat-friendly juices so that others of his kind can locate you. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/112 "2008-07-23T04:24:03Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] Better yet, we should ALL be moderators. If poster A is being an asshat, poster B can give an official warning. Then poster C can move the thread while poster D closes it entirely. Whereupon poster E will reopen the thread simultaneously with poster F banning poster A entirely. [/QUOTE] Power to the People! Right on! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/113 "2008-07-23T04:26:01Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Given the level of dissatisfaction, ā€¦ [/QUOTE] Which seems to be very low. I have no real probems with the staff. It used to be worse, trust me. But \*if \*we do elections, I suggest they be run along how the Roman Republic did theirs. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/114 "2008-07-23T05:07:41Z")
All fear the [stray cat](http://flickr.com/photos/25867485@N05/2642861808/in/photostream/)! He donā€™t need no stinking moderators. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/115 "2008-07-23T06:16:24Z")
Iā€™d just ike to point to point out Iā€™m being oppressed. Strange people posting on bulletin boards distributing cat pictures is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical feline creremony. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/116 "2008-07-23T08:49:36Z")
This comment is necessary to display input after the OP, lest an unwritten rule be broken, incurring Mod wrath. The posters who equate this place with a store need a clue. The board doesnā€™t dispense crackers, canned goods, or other commodities, such that the same item can be found elsewhere. The posters who advise ā€œjust leavingā€ are missing the point, as did the people who trotted out the jingoistic ā€œAmerica. Love it or leave itā€ from decades past. I love my country, but when an official is being an asshat, particularly an unrepentant one, I do my best to get them out of office, and replace them with one who better does the job. ---
**Author:** ![Mellivora\_capensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mellivora\_capensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mellivora_capensis)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/117 "2008-07-23T09:27:35Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] This comment is necessary to display input after the OP, lest an unwritten rule be broken, incurring Mod wrath. The posters who equate this place with a store need a clue. The board doesnā€™t dispense crackers, canned goods, or other commodities, such that the same item can be found elsewhere. The posters who advise ā€œjust leavingā€ are missing the point, as did the people who trotted out the jingoistic ā€œAmerica. Love it or leave itā€ from decades past. I love my country, but when an official is being an asshat, particularly an unrepentant one, I do my best to get them out of office, and replace them with one who better does the job. [/QUOTE] **danceswithcats** , I donā€™t wish to pile on or take sides, but I really do think that equating citizenship of a country to voluntary membership of an internet discussion forum is extreme. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/118 "2008-07-23T09:42:57Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] I love my country, but when an official is being an asshat, particularly an unrepentant one, I do my best to get them out of office, and replace them with one who better does the job. [/QUOTE] Fine ā€” do so. Thatā€™s a right of citizenship in a democratic republic. It is your civic responsibility to do so ā€¦ in a democratic republic. The board, however, is not. You appear to have mistaken the Straight Dope Message Board for a country of which you are a citizen. It is a business and you are a customer. What you ask is not a right of _customership_ at any store Iā€™m aware of. You pays your money and you takes your choice, as they say; simply because you shop at a store doesnā€™t give you the right to hire or fire employees, dictate menu items, mark down discounts at your leisure, adjust store hours, pencil yourself in on the appointment calendar, or help yourself to the penny jar. Even supposing all of that to be true, itā€™s obvious from this thread that the votes are not on your side. You are rallying almost no one to your cause, I fear. In short, there are unquestionably better ways to phrase your distaste for a moderation decision. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/119 "2008-07-23T10:00:55Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] This comment is necessary to display input after the OP, lest an unwritten rule be broken, incurring Mod wrath. [/QUOTE] **danceswithcats** , donā€™t be obtuse. There is no unwritten rule against not returning to threads. What there is the written rule of ā€œdonā€™t be a jerk.ā€ Nobody cares if a poster sometimes starts threads and doesnā€™t return to them. But if a poster posts scores of threads in a month, many of them annoying, and rarely returns to them, it isnā€™t unreasonable for the moderators to ask that poster to tend to his or her threads after starting them. What makes it suspension-worthy is for the poster to ignore the series of increasing moderator notes and warnings asking the poster to change his or her behavior. It seems pretty clear to me that the problem wasnā€™t some ā€œunwritten ruleā€ requiring OPs to return to their thread (based on which the undemocratic mods are waiting to pounce on the ususpecting), but **scrambledeggs** ā€™ failure to change his behavior when advised to do so by the mods. There have been previous poster-specific rules put in place (like the ban on **handy** posting in medical threads, and the requirement that some posters limit the number of political threads they have going at any one time), so the mods telling a particular poster to slow down on the posting of OPs and not returning is not some new, unprecedented imposition of a rule of general application, but rather the mods trying to get someone who doesnā€™t quite fit in to ā€œdonā€™t be a jerk.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415/120 "2008-07-23T10:47:00Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] No, _I_ vote for myself! Whoā€™s with _me_? [/QUOTE] But, butā€¦ You were an admin, not a lowly [del]busboy[/del] mod. šŸ˜• [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-time-has-come-for-elected-moderators/457415.md?page=7)